北投埔林炳炎

昨天台北早晨8點11℃、台中12℃，非常寒冷，但66歲的LKK版主還是冒險出門前往青島東路，參加台灣教授協會的隊伍，這是台灣北社號召的抗議隊伍，有17部大遊覽車南下。

本次活動有一好現象是台中市人的第一次大規模抗議遊行，年輕人踴躍參加。

但台中市政府的待客之道，嚴重欠缺。我們知道自從ISO 9000品質認證開始風行全世界之後，顧客滿意度是所有機構生存績效的指標，我給台中市政府的顧客滿意度是40分，理由是沒有提供流動廁所，造成沿途商家遭受人潮的湧入，作為抗議者之一，向這些受嚴重騷擾的商家感謝並致歉。

警方在維護交通的警力明顯訓練不足，人數太少。

這也反應出台灣大學教授出身年輕的內政部長江宜樺，無能。應該會很有抗議活動經驗的內政部長昨天坐鎮台中市，但不知道他做了什麼。（抗議隊伍正面影像取自 自由時報記者劉信德攝）

法籍學者高格孚昨也參加遊行，他憂心表示，按照馬政府的方向進行，台灣恐將被中國併吞。（自由時報記者蔡淑媛攝）

昨天版主在5點40走到大新國校門口（會場入口），已經精疲力盡，再也沒有力氣走下去，所以就沒有進入會場。而天色已暗，就停止我的抗議活動及公民記者工作。搭遊覽車回到家已經11點，嚴重違反生活常規。

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said more than 100,000 people flooded the streets of Taichung City yesterday to protest against the government’s China-leaning policies on the eve of the fourth round of cross-strait negotiations since Ma Ying-jeou took office in May last year. Shouting slogans such as “One Taiwan, One China, two separate countries” and “Taiwan is an independent country,” protesters from around the nation held up placards and giant banners calling for Ma’s resignation because the “president has betrayed the country by selling out Taiwan to China,” a farmer from Yunlin County said.

顧飯碗大隊中有民眾手持「愛雲林，不要陳雲林」的標語促銷雲林柳丁，嗆聲之餘仍不忘顧飯碗。（自由時報記者記者廖耀東攝）

除了社團號召的抗議群眾外，我身邊聽到有從彰化自己搭火車前來，有從東勢以及台中附近自動自發來參加的民眾，值得大家給她/他們掌聲。抗議的標語有日語與英文等外國語。

A full line-up of DPP heavyweights, such as party chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), former premiers Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), and Yu Shyi-kun , Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and a number of DPP lawmakers, marched along the protesters.

“We are here to send a loud message to the Ma administration that Taiwanese people are the masters of this land and he has no right destroying the country’s democratic system,” said Tsai, while criticizing China for its “arrogant and oppressive” attitude toward Taiwan.

謝智偉教授表演他的絕技

Speaking at the rally, Tsai dubbed Ma the root of Taiwan’s problems and urged the administration to stop sabotaging the country’s democracy by being over-friendly with China. She added that the government owes the public a clear explanation on its China policy.

徵求今天抗議社團報到

The chairperson said that ­despite the rosy promises made by the government on the signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), the pact will destroy Taiwan’s economy, especially its agricultural sector, because the agreement would trigger a large influx of Chinese products to Taiwan tariff-free.

台灣鄉鎮聯盟社團隊伍

“Taiwan is already experiencing its highest unemployment rate ever. People are constantly worried about losing their jobs … yet this government, which is made up of people from the privileged class, does not seem to care,” she said, adding that the government’s insistence on signing an ECFA with Beijing was anti-democratic because more than 80 percent of the public said they were not familiar with the content of the deal.

The protest was divided into two routes, with both processions converging later in the afternoon to form a massive rally. The DPP and pro-independence groups are also planning several protests during Chen’s stay in Taiwan from today to Friday.

The main theme of the procession from the east end of the city was to “break the black box” (破黑箱) — or break the non-­transparency in policy-­making decision process on cross-strait issues. The two parades joined together for a rally at about 5pm.

This is the second time Taiwan has hosted cross-strait talks headed by Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).

Chen is scheduled to arrive at the central city today via direct charter flight this morning. The two men are expected to meet and sign four agreements on fishing industry cooperation, quality control for agricultural products, cross-strait certification inspection and avoiding double taxation.

The two sides are slated to hammer out more details on the government’s proposed ECFA, a hotly debated trade pact with Beijing that the government touts as the solution to increasing Taiwan’s economic competitiveness in Asia.

The DPP, however, attacked the government as side-stepping the public’s will by planning to sign the treaty without public consent, adding that the Ma administration has failed to be transparent in its dealings with China.

“I am very disappointed and heartbroken that Taiwan has a president who doesn’t care about the Taiwanese people. If Ma likes China so much, he is welcome to go there and leave Taiwan alone,” said Wang Ming-seng (王民森), a 70 year-old wheelchair bound former teacher from Chiayi County, who said he was determined to ­participate in the demonstration despite his poor health.

Eleven-year-old fifth grader Chou Ting-hui (周庭輝) from Tainan City, waving a green DPP flag, said he was walking “for Taiwan’s freedom and his own future,” adding that Chen was not welcome in Taiwan.

“Although I am just a boy, I am a Taiwanese who has the responsibility to protect Taiwan from being swallowed by Beijing. I want to tell Chen that he is not needed here and that Taiwan must not sign an ECFA with China,” he said.

Braving the cold wind, ­marchers made their way to the Windsor Hotel where the Chinese delegation was staying to demand its immediate ­expulsion from Taiwan. The Taichung City Police Bureau fenced off the area around the hotel with barbed wire, drawing criticism from the protesters, who said Chen did not deserve such preferential treatment.

Police yesterday mobilized about 500 officers to maintain order at the protests.

The Taichung City Police Bureau said about 500 police officers would be on duty to maintain order and safety throughout the demonstration, including about 100 police who will be in charge of directing traffic and keeping road conditions and transportation running smoothly.

Police also blocked off certain roads with barricades, saying it was done to protect local residents.

The National Police Agency said that, depending on the situation, it estimated about 300 to 1,000 police would be on duty to maintain order on each of the five days that Chen is in Taiwan.

Although the parade was mainly peaceful, a minor conflict occurred not long after the crowd departed.

A man taking part in the demonstration mistakenly thought a female making recordings in the parade was a KMT member trying to spy on the demonstration and tried to grab the voice recorder from her.DPP security personnel quickly rushed to the scene to stop the clash.

The conflict ended peacefully soon after the man found that the woman was actually a DPP staffer.

本文發表於 2009-12-21 at 9:34 上午 且歸類為 台灣, 台灣獨立與社會運動, 林炳炎. 你可以發表回應於 RSS 2.0 feed. 你可以 留下回應, 或 自你的網站引用.